Method and apparatus for an imaging system

ABSTRACT

The present invention provides apparatus for an imaging system comprising a multitude of imaging elements upon a substrate. In some embodiments the substrate may be approximately round with a radius of approximately one inch. Various methods relating to using and producing an imaging system are discussed.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to the U.S. Provisional Application bearing the Ser. No. 61/926,471, filed Jan. 13, 2014 and entitled METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR AN IMAGING SYSTEM. The contents are relied upon and hereby incorporated by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to methods and associated apparatus and methods which relate to processing tools used to create imaged layers on substrates. Massively parallel implements of electron beam or chemical species beam imaging elements may be combined to form a full substrate processing system. In some embodiments the imaging systems may be used in conjunction with cleanspace fabricators. The present invention may also relate to methods and apparatus to capitalize on the advantages of cleanspace fabricators for methods or development, design, research and manufacturing.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A known approach to advanced technology fabrication of materials such as semi-conductor substrates is to assemble a manufacturing facility as a “cleanroom.” In such cleanrooms, processing tools are arranged to provide aisle space for human operators or automation equipment. Exemplary cleanroom design is described in: “Cleanroom Design, Second Edition,” edited by W. Whyte, published by John Wiley & Sons, 1999, ISBN 0-471-94204-9, (herein after referred to as “the Whyte text” and the content of which is included for reference in its entirety).

Cleanroom design has evolved over time to include locating processing stations within clean hoods. Vertical unidirectional airflow can be directed through a raised floor, with separate cores for the tools and aisles. It is also known to have specialized mini-environments which surround only a processing tool for added space cleanliness. Another known approach includes the “ballroom” approach, wherein tools, operators and automation all reside in the same cleanroom.

Evolutionary improvements have enabled higher yields and the production of devices with smaller geometries. However, known cleanroom design has disadvantages and limitations.

For example, as the size of tools has increased and the dimensions of cleanrooms have increased, the volume of cleanspace that is controlled has concomitantly increased. As a result, the cost of building the cleanspace, and the cost of maintaining the cleanliness of such cleanspace, has increased considerably.

Tool installation in a cleanroom can be difficult. The initial “fit up” of a “fab” with tools, when the floor space is relatively empty, can be relatively straightforward. However, as tools are put in place and a fabricator begins to process substrates, it can become increasingly difficult and disruptive of job flow, to either place new tools or remove old ones Likewise it has been difficult to remove a sub-assembly or component that makes up a fabricator tool in order to perform maintenance or replace such a subassembly or component of the fabricator tool. It would be desirable therefore to reduce installation difficulties attendant to dense tool placement while still maintaining such density, since denser tool placement otherwise affords substantial economic advantages relating to cleanroom construction and maintenance.

There are many types of manufacturing flows and varied types of substrates that may be operated effectively in the mentioned novel cleanspace environments. It would be desirable to define standard methodology of design and use of standard componentry strategies that would be useful for manufacturing flows of various different types; especially where such flows are currently operated in non-cleanroom environments.

In many types of substrate processing environments, a common and important processing step may include “lithography” processing where images are imparted to films of sensitive material upon the substrate. In the state of the art optical lithography is used to impart images through lithography masks. In other embodiments, electron beams are used to impart images in a controllable fashion. There may utility for creating systems where imaging systems may be formed with large parallel combinations of imaging elements that process a full substrate simultaneously. Such imaging elements that process a full substrate simultaneously may also be consistent with the desire to reduce installation difficulties for processing tools as previously mentioned.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, the present invention provides apparatus and methods to provide parallel implementations of electron beam or chemical species beam imaging elements to form a full substrate processing system. In some embodiments these systems may be used within a cleanspace fabricator facility. Cleanspace fabrication facilities have been defined in various patent specifications by the inventive entity, and the teachings and definition of these published specification may form a basis for understanding the utility of the inventive art herein within cleanspace environments.

The present invention also provides novel methods of utilizing these designs for processing fabs which rearrange the clean room into a cleanspace and thereby allow processing tools to reside in both vertical and horizontal dimensions relative to each other and in some embodiments with their tool bodies outside of, or on the periphery of, a clean space of the fabricator. In such a design, the tool bodies can be removed and replaced with much greater ease than is the standard case. The design also anticipates the automated transfer of substrates inside a clean space from a tool port of one tool to another. The substrates can reside inside specialized carriers designed to carry ones substrate at a time. Further design enhancements can entail the use of automated equipment to carry and support the tool body movement into and out of the fab environment. In this invention, numerous methods of using some or all of these innovations in designing, operating or otherwise interacting with such fabricator environments are described. The present invention can therefore include methods and apparatus for situating processing tools in a vertical dimension and control software modules for making such tools functional both within the cleanspace entity itself and also in networks of such fabricators wherein at least one of the processing tools incorporates an imaging system comprised of a multitude of imaging elements.

In some embodiments of the invention, methods are provided which utilize at least one fabricator where the cleanspace is vertically deployed. Within said fabricator there will be at least one and typically more tool chassis and toolPods. A toolPod will typically be attached to a tool chassis directly or indirectly thorough one or more other piece or pieces of equipment which attach to the toolPod. At least the one fabricator will perform a process in one of the toolPods and typically will perform a process flow which will be performed in at least one toolPod. The toolPod may have an attached or integral Toolport that is useful for the transport of substrates from one tool or toolPod to another tool or toolPod. In these embodiments, a unique aspect of the embodiments is that the first toolPod may be removed from the fabricator or factory for a maintenance activity or repair and then replaced with another toolPod. The use of the tool chassis together with a toolPod may result in a replacement that takes less than a day to perform. In some cases the replacement may take less than an hour. There may be numerous reasons for the replacement. It may be to repair the first toolPod or it may be replace the toolPod with another toolPod where the tool within is of a different or newer design type. These methods may be additionally useful to product a product when the substrate produced by the process flow may next be processed with additional steps including those which dice or cut or segment the substrate into subsections which may be called chips. The chips may then be assembled into packages to form a product. The assembly and packaging steps may also comprise a process flow and may include sophisticated techniques including three dimensional assembly, through silicon vias, substrate stacking to mention a few; and these steps may be performed in a cleanspace fabricator or alternatively in a cleanroom type fabricator. The assembly and packaging operations may include steps for thinning substrates as well as steps to form conductive connections between conductive contacts or contacts and other conductive surfaces. Alternatively, the end product of the assembly and packaging operations which may be an assembled product may be used in method where a conductive connection is formed between a conductive contact of the package and another conductive surface of another component or entity. Any of the major types of processing may utilize an imaging apparatus comprised of a multitude of imaging elements.

In some embodiments, the methods of producing products in the mentioned cleanspace fabricator may be useful to produce small amounts of a product. An imaging system comprised of a multitude of individual imaging elements may define a lithography option for a low volume fabricator that is both economical and cost effective in that expenses such as the production of lithography masks may not be required in some embodiments. In some cases the fabricator environment may be useful in creating and producing imaging system components as well.

There may be combinations of toolPods and tool Chassis entities which reside in environments that resemble either cleanspace or cleanroom environments which represent novel methods based on the inventive art herein. These collections may also create methods for the use of imaging systems comprise of a multitude of individual imaging elements. For example, a vertically deployed cleanspace may exist in an environment where there is only one vertical level in the fabricator or where there are no toolPods located in a vertical orientation where at least a portion of a toolPod lies above another in a vertical direction. Alternatively, whether in only one vertical level or in multiple levels of a cleanspace fabricator type whether vertically deployed or not there may be novel embodiments of the inventive art herein that involve collections of toolPods that are functional to produce on a portion of a process flow or even a portion of a process but utilize the methods described for fabricators.

A component of an imaging system may be formed by the combination of multiple imaging elements into a system. The combination may define an array of elements that is regular or non-regular. The imaging elements may each have the ability of emitting light, or ions or chemical species from their structures unto a neighboring substrate which may have a material or layer of material in a proximate location to the imaging elements such that it may receive the emitted light, ions or chemical species onto its surface or bulk.

An imaging system may be formed by the combination of a component of an imaging system as just discussed and a fixture to hold a substrate. There may also be alignment features on the substrate or on the fixture that may hold the substrate that may be operant to the function of the imaging system. There may also be a controller which may provide control signals to other components of the imaging system. The controller may also receive signals from other components of the imaging system. The controller may process a software algorithm or a program. In the processing by the controller, the controller may access data files stored within the controller or communicated to the controller by communication means.

There may be methods for forming an imaging system or imaging system component. An imaging system element or component may be formed individually by a process. It may then be tested in an individual fashion for metrology aspects desired for imaging processing. A subset of those elements or components that have metrology results that are within a specification range may be selected. The selected components or elements may place proximate to a receiving substrate and arranged in a designed pattern across the receiving substrate. In some embodiments, the receiving substrate may be round in form and have a radius approximately one inch in diameter. The receiving substrate may have had electrical connection features defined upon its surface to mate up with the components or elements that are placed thereupon. A process step to electrical connect an element to the substrate may be performed. Thereafter, the combined imaging elements may form an imaging system component that may be tested. The imaging system component may be placed proximate to a test substrate which has a layer or material that may be sensitive to electrons, ions or chemical species that may be emitted by the imaging system component. The imaging system component may next be rastered across the test surface to impart the image to the test substrate. The test substrate may be further processed such that a metrology process may be performed upon it to calibrate the imaging system component. The calibration data may be fed to a controller and the imaging system component may be included into a processing system which may be referred to as an imaging system. Thereafter, the imaging system may be used to process an image for a production substrate.

In another embodiment, the imaging elements may be formed and processed simultaneously. Techniques used for semiconductor and MEMS production may be used to create the array of imaging features on a substrate. A finished substrate with attached imaging elements may next be tested in concert with a test structure. The test structure in some embodiments may be a test wafer which may have been coated with a sensitive layer that may be sensitive to processing by the imaging elements. The resulting image structures on the test wafer may next be measure by a metrology apparatus. Comparison of the image test structure to a model may be performed to determine calibration and correction data values for the imaging system to use. Optionally a second test wafer may be processed with a repeat of the processing steps for the first test substrate but with correct values based on metrology. Next, the imaging system may be used to process an image for a production substrate.

In another embodiment, an imaging system may be formed by combining an imaging system component comprising a multiplicity of individual imaging elements. In some embodiments, the imaging system component may be formed in a round form factor common for semiconductor processing as wafers. The imaging system component may be included with other components including a wafer holding and alignment system and a controller to control the operation of the various components, collect data and run programs to construct the data into model corrections for the imaging system component. The imaging system components may be included into a processing tool that may be configured in a toolPod structure which itself may be capable of interfacing with a tool chassis structure. The toolPod comprising the imaging system may be optionally placed within a cleanspace fabrication environment. In the same environment a second toolPod may be placed and may be located at a level that may be vertically above the first tool location. A first substrate may be placed within the cleanspace fabricator. The substrate may be moved to the first toolPod with the imaging system and an imaging process may be performed upon the substrate. The substrate may next be moved to the second toolPod, and a second process may be performed by the tool in the second toolPod. In some embodiments this method may be used to process semiconductor or integrated circuit substrates, MEMS, optoelectronic, biomedical engineering substrates or the like.

In some embodiments a method for producing an imaging system may be to use a cleanspace fabricator to produce an imaging system according to the inventive art herein. In a first step a substrate may be placed within a cleanspace fabricator. The substrate may be moved to a processing tool which in some embodiments may be located within a toolPod. Next a processing step may be performed within the processing tool. The processing step may be part of a full processing flow designed to produce the array of imaging elements that form an imaging system component. After the full processing the imaging elements may be tested by their use upon a test substrate. After the test substrate with imaged material is further processed structure that may be measured may be formed. Next a metrology process may be performed to determine calibration data and offsets or adjustments. Thereafter the produced imaging system may be used to process a substrate to image a production pattern onto the substrate with an imaging sensitive layer.

One general aspect includes an imaging apparatus including: a first apparatus including a first substrate with a multitude of imaging elements arrayed thereupon where the imaging elements are capable of emitting an imaging signal from their structure to a material sensitive to their emissions on a surface in a vicinity of the first apparatus.

Implementations may include one or more of the following features. The imaging apparatus including the imaging apparatus and additionally including: a support component for a second substrate to be processed by the imaging apparatus; an alignment feature and alignment apparatus to measure the alignment feature; and a processor operant to collect data from imaging apparatus components, process the data and control imaging apparatus components based on the data. The imaging apparatus where the multitude of imaging elements emit electrons. The imaging apparatus where the multitude of imaging elements emit photons. The imaging apparatus where the multitude of imaging elements emit molecules. The imaging apparatus where there are more than 100, 1,000, 10,000, 100,000 or 1,000,000 imaging elements upon a substrate which may be planar. The imaging apparatus where the planar substrate is approximately round with a radius approximately one inch in dimension. The method additionally including: testing the imaging system to form test structures, measuring the test structures, and calculating correction values utilizing result of the measuring. The method where the imaging system includes more than 10,000 individual imaging elements. The method where the imaging system is approximately round in form with a radius of approximately 1 inch. The method additionally including the step of: including the imaging elements into a toolPod. The method additionally including steps of: placing the toolPod upon a chassis, where the chassis is part of a cleanspace fabricator; placing a second substrate into the cleanspace fabricator; placing an imaging sensitive film upon the second substrate; and performing an imaging process upon the imaging sensitive film upon the second substrate. The method where the imaging elements emit electrons. The method where the imaging elements emit photons. The method where the imaging elements emit molecules. The method where there are more than 10,000 imaging elements upon a first substrate. The method where the first substrate is approximately round with a radius approximately one inch in dimension.

One general aspect includes a method of forming an imaging system including: forming an individual imaging system element, testing the individual imaging system element, selecting the individual imaging system element based on compliance to desired specifications, forming a receiving substrate with electrical interconnect features thereon, placing selected individual imaging system elements upon the receiving substrate, and processing the placed selected individual imaging elements to electrically connect them upon the receiving substrate.

Implementations may include one or more of the following features. The method additionally including: testing the imaging system to form test structures, measuring the test structures, and calculating correction values utilizing result of the measuring. The method where the imaging system includes more than 10,000 individual imaging elements. The method where the imaging system is approximately round in form with a radius of approximately 1 inch. The method additionally including the step of: including the imaging elements into a toolPod. The method additionally including steps of: placing the toolPod upon a chassis, where the chassis is part of a cleanspace fabricator; placing a second substrate into the cleanspace fabricator; placing an imaging sensitive film upon the second substrate; and performing an imaging process upon the imaging sensitive film upon the second substrate. The method where the imaging elements emit electrons. The method where the imaging elements emit photons. The method where the imaging elements emit molecules. The method where there are more than 10,000 imaging elements upon a first substrate. The method where the first substrate is approximately round with a radius approximately one inch in dimension.

One general aspect includes a method for forming an imaging system including steps of: placing a second substrate within a cleanspace fabricator, moving the second substrate within the cleanspace fabricator to a processing tool within a first toolPod, processing the second substrate to form imaging elements upon the substrate, and moving the second substrate with imaging elements thereon out of the cleanspace.

Implementations may include one or more of the following features. The method where the imaging elements emit electrons. The method where the imaging elements emit photons. The method where the imaging elements emit molecules. The method where there are more than 10,000 imaging elements upon a first substrate. The method where the first substrate is approximately round with a radius approximately one inch in dimension.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, that are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate several embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention:

FIG. 1-An illustration of a small tool cleanspace fabricator in a sectional type representation.

FIG. 2-An illustration of a full substrate imaging apparatus with highlighted regions illustrated at higher scale to depict a collection of individual imaging elements.

FIGS. 3A, B-Illustrations of an embodiment of an individual imaging element.

FIGS. 4A, B-Illustrations of a simplified array of imaging elements to depict how a collection of imaging elements may be formed in exemplary embodiments.

FIG. 5-A depiction of an embodiment of an exemplary positioning element.

FIG. 6-A depiction of an embodiment of a redundant imaging element.

FIGS. 7A, B-Exemplary depictions of an imaging apparatus depicted partially offset from an exemplary location of operation in proximity to a substrate in a holding location with alignment features.

FIGS. 8A, B-Exemplary depictions of an array of imaging elements and a close up view of an exemplary small sized imaging element.

FIGS. 9A, B-Exemplary depictions of an array of imaging elements and a close up view of an exemplary small sized imaging element.

FIG. 10-A Flow chart depicting exemplary methods of production of an imaging apparatus.

FIG. 11-A Flow chart depicting exemplary methods of production of an imaging apparatus.

FIG. 12-A Flow chart depicting exemplary methods of utilization of an imaging apparatus.

FIG. 13-A Flow chart depicting exemplary methods of production of an imaging apparatus.

FIG. 14-An exemplary processor that may be useful for some embodiments of imaging systems.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In patent disclosures by the same inventive entity, the innovation of the cleanspace fabricator has been described. In place of a cleanroom, fabricators of this type may be constructed with a cleanspace that contains the wafers, typically in containers, and the automation to move the wafers and containers around between ports of tools. The cleanspace may typically be much smaller than the space a typical cleanroom may occupy and may also be envisioned as being turned on its side. In some embodiments, the processing tools may be shrunk which changes the processing environment further.

Description of a Linear, Vertical Cleanspace Fabricator

There are a number of types of cleanspace fabricators that may be possible with different orientations. For the purposes of illustration, one exemplary embodiment includes an implementation with a fab shape that is planar with tools oriented in vertical orientations. An exemplary representation of what the internal structure of these types of fabs may look like is shown in a partial cross section representation in FIG. 1. Item 110 may represent the roof of such a fabricator where some of the roof has been removed to allow for a view into the internal structure. Additionally, items 120 may represent the external walls of the facility which are also removed in part to allow a view into external structure.

In the linear and vertical cleanspace fabricator of FIG. 1 there are a number of aspects that may be observed in the representation. The “rotated and shrunken” cleanspace regions may be observed as cleanspace regions 115. The occurrence of cleanspace regions 115 on the right side of the figure is depicted with a portion of its length cut off to show its rough size in cross section. The cleanspaces lie adjacent to the tool pod locations. Depicted as item 160, the small cubical features represent tooling locations within the fabricator. These locations are located vertically and are adjacent to the cleanspace regions (115). In some embodiments a portion of the tool, the tool port, may protrude into the cleanspace region to interact with the automation that may reside in this region.

Floor 150 may represent the fabricator floor or ground level. On the right side, portions of the fabricator support structure may be removed so that the section may be demonstrated. In between the tools and the cleanspace regions, the location of the floor 150 may represent the region where access is made to place and replace tooling. In some embodiment, as in the one in FIG. 1, there may be two additional floors that are depicted as items 151 and 152. Other embodiments may have now flooring levels and access to the tools is made either by elevator means or by robotic automation that may be suspended from the ceiling of the fabricator or supported by the ground floor and allow for the automated removal, placement and replacement of tooling in the fabricator.

Description of a Chassis and a ToolPod or a Removable Tool Component

In other patent descriptions of this inventive entity (patent application Ser. No. 11/502,689 which is incorporated in its entirety for reference) description has been made of the nature of the toolPod innovation and the toolPod's chassis innovation. These constructs, which in some embodiments may be ideal for smaller tool form factors, allow for the easy replacement and removal of the processing tools. Fundamentally, the toolPod may represent a portion or an entirety of a processing tool's body. In cases where it may represent a portion, there may be multiple regions of a tool that individually may be removable. In either event, during a removal process the tool may be configured to allow for the disconnection of the toolPod from the fabricator environment, both for aspects of handling of product substrates and for the connection to utilities of a fabricator including gasses, chemicals, electrical interconnections and communication interconnections to mention a few. The toolPod represents a stand-alone entity that may be shipped from location to location for repair, manufacture, or other purposes.

Imaging Apparatus

An imaging apparatus of various types may be used in the various cleanspace fabricator designs that have been described herein and in other referenced applications. Referring to FIG. 2 at item 200 an exemplary imaging apparatus in the exemplary form factor of a round substrate is depicted. In some embodiments, the imaging apparatus may be comprised of a large number of similar elements. As shown in a magnified view 210, the individual elements may be arranged in a regular pattern 220.

Referring to FIG. 3A at item 300 a close up of an imaging element may be depicted in cross section and FIG. 3B at item 350 a plan view. In some embodiments, the imaging element may be as simple as a stylus or probe needle. In the depiction of item 300 two stylus type elements may be located in one imaging element location; however more complicated elements may be preferred. In some embodiments, having two or more components on a single imaging element may allow for redundancy and methods of operating when one of the imaging elements 310 or 320 may be or may become defective for some reason. At 350, the exemplary imaging element may be demonstrated with electrical connections and interconnection elements. Item 360 may represent an electrical connection for imaging element 310. Item 360 is also shown in cross section and may have a thru-via 330 and an interconnection feature 340 electrically connected to it. As well, other electrical connections 345 may also be connected to the substrate upon which the imaging element is configured.

There may be many different manners to form imaging elements in an array on a substrate. For example, the techniques and equipment used to process semiconductor substrates to form metal connections and interconnections such as vias may be used to form the features in the exemplary imaging elements depicted at 300. A stylus head may be formed by various chemical etching techniques, for example. Processes to form imaging apparatus may typically have degrees of error associated with their formation.

Referring to FIG. 4A, imaging array 410 may represent a simplified exemplary array of imaging elements. The array may depict nine such imaging elements. The element of item 420 may have an error of location in both of two orthogonal coordinates. The space depicted at 421 may represent the vertical error of location from an idealized equivalent spacing of the nine array elements. The space at 422 may represent the horizontal error of location.

The imaging element at item 430 may also have errors of location in different directions as depicted. In fact, all of the elements may have random amounts of error in location. In some embodiments, the errors may be sufficiently small to be within a technological need for the imaging element. In other embodiments, errors of production of an imaging array or variation of the calibration of the imaging system may be sufficiently large to require correction. In FIG. 4B, item 450 a depiction of test structures imaged into a test substrate by the imaging array 410 may be found. The aforementioned errors may be found as offset in the location of the test structure depiction 460. A test structure of the type in 450 may be formed by the imaging array and then characterized by metrology techniques. These measurements may be used to allow the imaging array to be utilized in methods that correct for errors in the characteristics of the array.

The imaging elements may be located in the grid pattern of imaging array 410 and this pattern may have an imaging element that may have a resolution capability of a small distance. In some embodiments, the small distance may be as small as 1-10 nanometers. The spacing between imaging elements may be depicted at 470 and 480. The spacing may be such to create a regular array, or in other embodiments may be designed in a non-regular fashion. This spacing may be a few hundred nanometers in some embodiments. In other embodiments the spacing could be a millimeter or more. In some embodiments, where the spacing is an exemplary 1 micron, the imaging array must be translated numerous steps in both a vertical and a horizontal direction. To cover the entire distance, the step pattern of the entire grid array (as a whole) might be 1,000 nanometers/10 nanometers or 100 steps in each direction as an example. By combining the calibration data the array may be controlled by a controller to write arbitrary, but defined in data forms, image patterns where the fundamental image element size may be 10 nanometers by 10 nanometers in size. As mentioned, these values are provided in an exemplary manner and the use of an imaging array with multiple elements may function similarly for numerous embodiments. When various imaging elements have errors of location as discussed these imaging location errors may be corrected algorithmically.

In an exemplary embodiment, the imaging device may be characterized by metrology and each individual imaging element characterized individually. In an example to describe a process related to this, a state of a detector may have errors that range from −10 nanometers to +20 nanometers in a first “X” coordinate direction and −20 to +20 nanometers in a second orthogonal “Y” direction. If the step resolution on the array is an exemplary 10 nanometers between each step that moves the array then to image the full space, the array may be stepped 1 extra time for the negative X correction, 100 times for the normal area to be imaged, and then 2 additional times for the positive X Correction. This scanning procedure may repeat each time a Y direction is stepped. The Y steps may be stepped an extra 2 times for the negative Y correction, 100 times for the normal area to be imaged and then an extra 2 additional times for the positive Y correction. Each image element may have its own correction and at the extremes of the stepping process it may be expected that only a few of the elements would be active. This process is described for exemplary purposes and each imaging system may have a different set of calibration requirements. And in some cases, the elements of an imaging array of the type described herein may have a degree of dynamic characteristic and therefore repeated calibrations may be required as the apparatus is used.

In a further exemplary vein, an array according to the descriptions herein may comprise an apparatus that has a radial dimension of an inch or approximately 25 mm. The surface of such an imaging device may therefore have approximately (3.14)*25*25 mm² or approximately 1960 mm². If the imaging arrays have an exemplary 10 micron distance between elements and a resolution size of 10 nanometers, then scanning may involve a default 1000 steps in each of the X and Y directions plus any required extra steps for calibration needs. As well if each imaging element covers a 100 micron square area of a surface then each millimeter square would have 10,000 such elements therein. The entire array may comprise 19,600,000 elements. Such an array might be able to be fabricated using the tools of semiconductor manufacturing as an example. That many elements may be expected to have numerous defective elements either initially or after use. There may be a utility to creating redundancy at each element location for this purpose. As well, it may be useful to invoke processes that significantly over scan a single imaging element dimension to allow for the ability of correcting for element areas that are non-functional.

The calibration of array elements may also involve calibration of the intensity of the imaging signal of each element. In array designs where each element may have an alterable intensity of operation, the calibration result may create a set of individual intensity settings that may be applied to each element. In other designs the dwell time at each step cycle may be made to allow for the least intense element to deliver an appropriate imaging signal. In such a case, the individual elements may operate in a digital fashion toggled on and off on an individual basis to deliver a required imaging signal.

Referring to FIG. 5, a probe type element 510 may also be useful to measure a dimension of an array of imaging elements from the surface of the substrate that the imaging array will image. In some embodiments, it may be useful to calibrate and adjust the imaging array apparatus in separation from a substrate to be imaged. In FIG. 5, a distance of a probe tip 530 from a conductive surface of an element body 570 may be measured based on an electrical signal. In some embodiments, the electrical signal may be based on electric emission from the probe needle biased to a certain potential. The emission signal may be charactistic of the separation of the needle from the conductive surface. There may be numerous other techniques that may be useful in calibrating distances including electrical signals from tunneling processes across a gap and AFM type force metrology based on the establishment of a force signal as a needle interfaces with a surface. Other techniques relating to optical signals may also be used to calibrate a height of the imaging array above a target substrate.

Continuing with an emission current embodiment, the probe tip 530 may be biased by a variable voltage supply 550 which may be connected to the probe tip 530 with an interconnect 540 and to a conductive surface of an element body 570 with another electrical interconnect 560. Electrical current may flow from the probe tip 530 across a calibrated gap to a conductive substrate and through a current measuring apparatus 580. A combination of sensitive measurement devices may be used to keep a leveled distance relationship in place across a substrate of imaging elements. The element body 570 may be part of the substrate to be imaged or it may be part of a calibrated holding apparatus that holds the substrate in a calibrated fashion. In some embodiments, the thickness of the substrate may be a parameter that may need to be collected for calibration. As may be apparent, in embodiments where the distance of the imaging elements to the imaged surface is critical it may be important to keep the imaging apparatus at a stable and uniform temperature across its extents and over time periods.

Referring to FIG. 6, an example of a redundant imaging element 610 is depicted. The element may configure two copies of an active element. In other embodiments there may be more than two elements. In an example embodiment, the imaging elements may be formed upon a substrate that may be controlled for its thickness. For example, the substrates 630 and 635 may be comprised of a piezoelectric crystal. Piezoelectric crystals may have the property of expanding along a structural axis in response to an electric field being applied across the crystal the electrical fields may be applied in an exemplary fashion across interconnects 620 and 640. The active element 675 may be moved into an imaging position by the application of a potential voltage across 625 and 645; whereas the redundant element 670 may remain withdrawn and not activated. In other embodiments, the redundant element may be made nonfunctional by other means than physical location, including in a non-limiting sense not being energized.

The active element 675 may be used to expose a chemically active layer 680 and a substrate 690. In some embodiments the exposure may comprise electron bombardment based on emission current emitted from the tip which may be biased through the electrical interconnect 650. In other embodiments the tip may be used to create an electric field at the surface that may be used to direct ionic species towards the chemically reactive layer. In still other embodiments, the narrowed tip may comprise a photon directing material that may be coated with a reflecting material such as a metallic film, except at the very tip. The tip may direct light from a light source such as a solid state laser or a light emitting diode to the substrate. In some additional embodiments, a tip structure may represent a nanolaser device. In still further embodiments, the array may be configured with nanoscaled emitters. In some cases, nanoscaled emitters may be tuned to emit at wavelengths that are a fraction of the emitter dimensions or at sub-wavelength conditions. There may be numerous other types of imaging elements. Because an imaging array may have so many individual elements, the power requirements for each element may be very small. In some embodiments, the amount of time required for exposure of the entire surface may be very small.

Referring to FIG. 7A, an imaging system may be displayed. Item 710 may represent an imaging component in the form of a round substrate. The items are demonstrated with some transparency in the illustration for illustration purposes only. The round substrate may be larger than a substrate to be imaged, 740. The substrate to be imaged may sit inside a pocket of a holding fixture 720. The holding fixture may have alignment features such as 730 incorporated into it. The alignment feature may include a flat metallic surface 752 useful for calibrating the height of the imaging component. In addition, it may have alignment features 753 that may be used in conjunction with scanning systems such as atomic force microscopy probes or the like to calibration location in the plane of an idealized substrate surface. A magnified representation of the alignment structures 750 may be found at 751 in FIG. 7B.

Referring to FIGS. 8A and 8B a more complicated imaging element may be illustrated. At FIG. 8A item 810 an exemplary array of nine elements such as item 825 may be found. Each of the elements may have at least one imaging elements 820. One of the imaging elements may be demonstrated in a close-up representation 830 at FIG. 8B which also may represent a cross sectional view. The exemplary imaging element may be capable of irradiating a target substrate with electrons or other ionic species. Item 840 may represent an exit slit that may be biased to a desired energy of an existing ion. The slit may insure that reasonably columnated ion beams emerge from the imaging element. Item 850, 860 and 870 may represent focusing elements for the beam. The electrons may traverse a column that may have these focusing elements deposited on its sidewalls. Item 880 may represent an initial imaging slit that may be used to accelerate ions or electrons from a filament or other source of ions or electrons 890. Numerous electrical connection points to the portions described are illustrated with circular connection points such as 881 and 882. These are for illustration purposes and may represent that one or more control signals or electrical signals may be connected to the various described portions.

An alternative type of micro imaging element may be found in reference to FIGS. 9A and 9B. At 9A, item 910, another exemplary array of nine elements such as 925 with an associated image element 920 may be found. One of the elements represented in the close-up 930 of FIG. 9B may be found. This element may be useful for ejecting nanoscaled droplets of chemical reactant to react with resist layers to form imaged layers. Item 990 may be an ejected chemical nanodroplet. Item 980 may be an element to eject a nanodroplet 975. A piezoelectric element 950 may be useful as such an ejection element or other such features as may be found in ink jet printing technology may be represented by 950. At 970 droplets of chemical may be moved by microfluidic techniques through the use of coated electrodes such as items 960 and 965. The electrodes may receive electrical control signals through interconnects from controlling systems. An example of such an electrical connect is depicted at 961.

Methods of Producing and Utilizing Imaging Systems

Referring to FIG. 10, a method for forming an exemplary array of imaging elements may be found. At step 1010 an imaging component may be formed by processing or otherwise obtained. At 1020 the individual imaging components may be tested for their desired imaging properties. At 1030, imaging components that conform to a specification range may be selected from the population of imaging components. At 1040, a carrying substrate consistent to receive the numerous imaging elements may be formed and configured with electrical connection features such as solder bump. At 1050 the individual imaging components may be placed in receiving locations upon the carrying substrate. At 1060 the imaging component may be processed to electrically connect the imaging components. The apparatus that results at step 1060 may be further used or in other embodiments it may be obtained by a user and at 1070 the imaging system may be used to image a test pattern on a substrate with an imaging sensitive layer thereupon. At 1080, a metrology process may be performed on the substrate with the test pattern and calibration adjustments may be determined. At 1090 the imaging system may be used to image a production pattern on a substrate with an imaging sensitive layer thereupon.

Referring to FIG. 11, a method for a simultaneous processing of the imaging elements may be found. At step 1110 a substrate may be processed to form imaging elements upon the substrate such that the imaging elements are simultaneously formed across the substrate. At step 1120, the imaging components upon the substrate may be tested for their desired imaging properties. At step 1130, the imaging system may be used to image a test pattern on a substrate with an imaging sensitive layer thereupon. At 1140, a metrology process may be performed on the substrate with the test pattern and calibration adjustments may be determined. At 1150 the imaging system may be used to image a production pattern on a substrate with an imaging sensitive layer thereupon.

Referring to FIG. 12 a method for using an exemplary array of imaging elements may be found. At step, 1210 an array of imaging components may be attached to an imaging system, which may optionally have a receiving recess to hold substrates to be imaged as well as alignment features upon a portion of the component with said recess. At step 1220 the imaging system may be including into a processing tool that is configured within a toolPod structure and capable of interfacing with a chassis structure to receive the toolPod. At step 1230, the toolPod may optionally be placed within a cleanspace fabrication environment. At step 1240 a second tool in a toolPod may be placed in a cleanspace fabrication environment wherein the second tool is located at a level that is vertically above the first tool location. At step 1250 a first substrate may be placed within the first toolPod and an imaging process may be performed by the imaging system. At step 1260, the substrate may be moved from the first toolPod to the second toolPod. At 1270 a second process may be performed by the tool in the second toolPod. There may be numerous types of substrates that may be processed according to the method of FIG. 12 including in a non-limiting sense a semiconductor processing, a microelectronic processing, an electronic component assembly processing, a MEMS processing and optoelectronic processing,

Referring to FIG. 13, a method for producing an imaging system may be found. At Step 1310, a substrate may be placed within a cleanspace fabricator. At step 1320 the substrate may be moved to a processing tool. In some embodiments, the processing tool may be located within a toolPod. At step 1330 a processing step may be performed within the processing tool as part of a processing flow to form an imaging system. At step 1340, the imaging components upon the substrate may be tested for their desired imaging properties. At step 1350, the imaging system may be used to image a test pattern on a substrate with an imaging sensitive layer thereupon. At 1360, a metrology process may be performed on the substrate with the test pattern and calibration adjustments may be determined. At 1370 the imaging system may be used to image a production pattern on a substrate with an imaging sensitive layer thereupon.

Control Systems

Referring now to FIG. 14, a controller 1400 is illustrated that may be used in some embodiments of an imaging system. The controller 1400 includes a processor 1410, which may include one or more processor components. The processor may be coupled to a communication device 1420.

The processor 1410 may also be in communication with a storage device 1430. The storage device 1430 may comprise a number of appropriate information storage device types, including combinations of magnetic storage devices including hard disk drives, optical storage devices, and/or semiconductor memory devices such as Flash memory devices, Random Access Memory (RAM) devices and Read Only Memory (ROM) devices.

At 1430, the storage device 1430 may store a program 1440 which may be useful for controlling the processor 1410. The processor 1410 performs instructions of the program 1440 which may affect numerous algorithmic processes and thereby operates in accordance with imaging system manufacturing equipment. The storage device 1430 can also store imaging system related data, including in a non limiting sense imaging system calibration data and image data to be imaged with the imaging system. The data may be stored in one or more databases 1450, 1460. The databases 1450, 1460 may include specific control logic for controlling the imaging elements which may be organized in matrices, arrays or other collections to form a portion of an imaging manufacturing system.

Glossary of Selected Terms

Reference may have been made to different aspects of some preferred embodiments of the invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. A Glossary of Selected Terms is included now at the end of this Detailed Description.

-   -   Air receiving wall: a boundary wall of a cleanspace that         receives air flow from the cleanspace.     -   Air source wall: a boundary wall of a cleanspace that is a         source of clean airflow into the cleanspace.     -   Annular: The space defined by the bounding of an area between         two closed shapes one of which is internal to the other.     -   Automation: The techniques and equipment used to achieve         automatic operation, control or transportation.     -   Ballroom: A large open cleanroom space devoid in large part of         support beams and walls wherein tools, equipment, operators and         production materials reside.     -   Batches: A collection of multiple substrates to be handled or         processed together as an entity     -   Boundaries: A border or limit between two distinct spaces—in         most cases herein as between two regions with different air         particulate cleanliness levels.     -   Circular: A shape that is or nearly approximates a circle.     -   Clean: A state of being free from dirt, stain, or impurities—in         most cases herein referring to the state of low airborne levels         of particulate matter and gaseous forms of contamination.     -   Cleanspace (or equivalently Clean Space): A volume of air,         separated by boundaries from ambient air spaces, that is clean.     -   Cleanspace, Primary: A cleanspace whose function, perhaps among         other functions, is the transport of jobs between tools.     -   Cleanspace, Secondary: A cleanspace in which jobs are not         transported but which exists for other functions, for example as         where tool bodies may be located.     -   Cleanroom: A cleanspace where the boundaries are formed into the         typical aspects of a room, with walls, a ceiling and a floor.     -   Conductive Connection: a joining of two entities which are         capable of conducting electrical current with the resulting         characteristics of metallic or semiconductive or relatively low         resistivity materials.     -   Conductive Contact: a location on an electrical device or         package having the function of providing a Conductive Surface to         which a Conductive Connection may be made with another device,         wire or electrically conductive entity.     -   Conductive Surface: a surface region capable of forming a         conductive connection through which electrical current flow may         occur consistent with the nature of a conductive connection.     -   Core: A segmented region of a standard cleanroom that is         maintained at a different clean level. A typical use of a core         is for locating the processing tools.     -   Ducting: Enclosed passages or channels for conveying a         substance, especially a liquid or gas—typically herein for the         conveyance of air.     -   Envelope: An enclosing structure typically forming an outer         boundary of a cleanspace.     -   Fab (or fabricator): An entity made up of tools, facilities and         a cleanspace that is used to process substrates.     -   Fit up: The process of installing into a new clean room the         processing tools and automation it is designed to contain.     -   Flange: A protruding rim, edge, rib, or collar, used to         strengthen an object, hold it in place, or attach it to another         object. Typically as utilized herein, a Flange may also be used         to seal the region around the attachment.     -   Folding: A process of adding or changing curvature.     -   HEPA: An acronym standing for high-efficiency particulate air.         Used to define the type of filtration systems used to clean air.     -   Horizontal: A direction that is, or is close to being,         perpendicular to the direction of gravitational force.     -   Job: A collection of substrates or a single substrate that is         identified as a processing unit in a fab. This unit being         relevant to transportation from one processing tool to another.     -   Logistics: A name for the general steps involved in transporting         a job from one processing step to the next. Logistics can also         encompass defining the correct tooling to perform a processing         step and the scheduling of a processing step.     -   Maintenance Process: A series of steps that constitute the         repair or retrofit of a tool or a toolPod. The steps may include         aspects of disassembly, assembly, calibration, component         replacement or repair, component inter-alignment, or other such         actions which restore, improve or insure the continued operation         of a tool or a toolPod     -   Multifaced: A shape having multiple faces or edges.     -   Nonsegmented Space: A space enclosed within a continuous         external boundary, where any point on the external boundary can         be connected by a straight line to any other point on the         external boundary and such connecting line would not need to         cross the external boundary defining the space.     -   Perforated: Having holes or penetrations through a surface         region. Herein, said penetrations allowing air to flow through         the surface.     -   Peripheral: Of, or relating to, a periphery.     -   Periphery: With respect to a cleanspace, refers to a location         that is on or near a boundary wall of such cleanspace. A tool         located at the periphery of a primary cleanspace can have its         body at any one of the following three positions relative to a         boundary wall of the primary cleanspace: (i) all of the body can         be located on the side of the boundary wall that is outside the         primary cleanspace, (ii) the tool body can intersect the         boundary wall or (iii) all of the tool body can be located on         the side of the boundary wall that is inside the primary         cleanspace. For all three of these positions, the tool's port is         inside the primary cleanspace. For positions (i) or (iii), the         tool body is adjacent to, or near, the boundary wall, with         nearness being a term relative to the overall dimensions of the         primary cleanspace.     -   Planar: Having a shape approximating the characteristics of a         plane.     -   Plane: A surface containing all the straight lines that connect         any two points on it.     -   Polygonal: Having the shape of a closed figure bounded by three         or more line segments     -   Process: A series of operations performed in the making or         treatment of a product—herein primarily on the performing of         said operations on substrates.     -   Processing Chamber (or Chamber or Process Chamber): a region of         a tool where a substrate resides or is contained within when it         is receiving a process step or a portion of a process step that         acts upon the substrate. Other parts of a tool may perform         support, logistic or control functions to or on a processing         chamber.     -   Process Flow: The order and nature of combination of multiple         process steps that occur from one tool to at least a second         tool. There may be consolidations that occur in the definition         of the process steps that still constitute a process flow as for         example in a single tool performing its operation on a substrate         there may be numerous steps that occur on the substrate. In some         cases these numerous steps may be called process steps in other         cases the combination of all the steps in a single tool that         occur in one single ordered flow may be considered a single         process. In the second case, a flow that moves from a process in         a first tool to a process in a second tool may be a two step         process flow.     -   Production unit: An element of a process that is acted on by         processing tools to produce products. In some cleanspace         fabricators this may include carriers and/or substrates.     -   Robot: A machine or device that operates automatically or by         remote control, whose function is typically to perform the         operations that move a job between tools, or that handle         substrates within a tool.     -   Round: Any closed shape of continuous curvature.     -   Substrates: A body or base layer, forming a product, that         supports itself and the result of processes performed on it.     -   Tool: A manufacturing entity designed to perform a processing         step or multiple different processing steps. A tool can have the         capability of interfacing with automation for handling jobs of         substrates. A tool can also have single or multiple integrated         chambers or processing regions. A tool can interface to         facilities support as necessary and can incorporate the         necessary systems for controlling its processes.     -   Tool Body: That portion of a tool other than the portion forming         its port.     -   Tool Chassis (or Chassis): An entity of equipment whose prime         function is to mate, connect and/or interact with a toolPod. The         interaction may include the supply of various utilities to the         toolPod, the communication of various types of signals, the         provision of power sources. In some embodiments a Tool Chassis         may support, mate or interact with an intermediate piece of         equipment such as a pumping system which may then mate, support,         connect or interact with a toolPod. A prime function of a Tool         Chassis may be to support easy removal and replacement of         toolPods and/or intermediate equipment with toolPods.     -   toolPod (or tool Pod or Tool Pod or similar variants): A form of         a tool wherein the tool exists within a container that may be         easily handled. The toolPod may have both a Tool Body and also         an attached Tool Port and the Tool Port may be attached outside         the container or be contiguous to the tool container. The         container may contain a small clean space region for the tool         body and internal components of a tool Port. The toolPod may         contain the necessary infrastructure to mate, connect and         interact with a Tool Chassis. The toolPod may be easily         transported for reversible removal from interaction with a         primary clean space environment.     -   Tool Port: That portion of a tool forming a point of exit or         entry for jobs to be processed by the tool. Thus the port         provides an interface to any job-handling automation of the         tool.     -   Tubular: Having a shape that can be described as any closed         figure projected along its perpendicular and hollowed out to         some extent.     -   Unidirectional: Describing a flow which has a tendency to         proceed generally along a particular direction albeit not         exclusively in a straight path. In clean airflow, the         unidirectional characteristic is important to ensuring         particulate matter is moved out of the cleanspace.     -   Unobstructed removability: refers to geometric properties, of         fabs constructed in accordance with the present invention that         provide for a relatively unobstructed path by which a tool can         be removed or installed.     -   Utilities: A broad term covering the entities created or used to         support fabrication environments or their tooling, but not the         processing tooling or processing space itself. This includes         electricity, gasses, airflows, chemicals (and other bulk         materials) and environmental controls (e.g., temperature).     -   Vertical: A direction that is, or is close to being, parallel to         the direction of gravitational force.     -   Vertically Deployed Cleanspace: a cleanspace whose major         dimensions of span may fit into a plane or a bended plane whose         normal has a component in a horizontal direction. A Vertically         Deployed Cleanspace may have a cleanspace airflow with a major         component in a horizontal direction. A Ballroom Cleanroom would         typically not have the characteristics of a vertically deployed         cleanspace.

While the invention has been described in conjunction with specific embodiments, it is evident that many alternatives, modifications and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art in light of the foregoing description. Accordingly, this description is intended to embrace all such alternatives, modifications and variations as fall within its spirit and scope. 

What is claimed is:
 1. An imaging apparatus comprising: a first apparatus comprising a first substrate with a multitude of imaging elements arrayed thereupon wherein the imaging elements are capable of emitting an imaging signal from their structure to a material sensitive to their emissions on a surface in a vicinity of the first apparatus, wherein there are about 1,000 or more imaging elements upon the first substrate.
 2. The imaging apparatus comprising the imaging apparatus of claim 1 and additionally comprising: a support component for a second substrate to be processed by the imaging apparatus; an alignment feature and alignment apparatus to measure the alignment feature; and a processor operant to collect data from imaging apparatus components, process the data and control imaging apparatus components based on the data.
 3. The imaging apparatus of claim 2 wherein the multitude of imaging elements emit electrons.
 4. The imaging apparatus of claim 3 wherein the multitude of imaging elements emit photons.
 5. The imaging apparatus of claim 3 wherein the multitude of imaging elements emit molecules.
 6. The imaging apparatus of claim 3 wherein there are more than 10,000 imaging elements upon the first substrate.
 7. The imaging apparatus of claim 6 wherein the first substrate is approximately round with a radius approximately one inch in dimension.
 8. A method of forming an imaging system comprising: forming an individual imaging system element; testing the individual imaging system element; selecting the individual imaging system element based on compliance to desired specifications; forming a receiving substrate with electrical interconnect features thereon; placing selected individual imaging system elements upon the receiving substrate; and processing the placed selected individual imaging elements to electrically connect them upon the receiving substrate.
 9. The method of claim 8 additionally comprising: testing the imaging system to form test structures; measuring the test structures; and calculating correction values utilizing result of the measuring.
 10. The method of claim 9 wherein the imaging system comprises more than 10,000 individual imaging elements.
 11. The method of claim 10 wherein the imaging system is approximately round in form with a radius of approximately 1 inch.
 12. The method of claim 9 additionally comprising the step of: including the imaging elements into a toolPod.
 13. The method of claim 12 additionally comprising steps of: placing the toolPod upon a chassis, wherein the chassis is part of a cleanspace fabricator; placing a second substrate into the cleanspace fabricator; placing an imaging sensitive film upon the second substrate; and performing an imaging process upon the imaging sensitive film upon the second substrate.
 14. A method for forming an imaging system comprising steps of: placing a second substrate within a cleanspace fabricator; moving the second substrate within the cleanspace fabricator to a processing tool within a first toolPod; processing the second substrate to form imaging elements upon the substrate; and moving the second substrate with imaging elements thereon out of the cleanspace.
 15. The method of claim 14 wherein the imaging elements emit electrons.
 16. The method of claim 14 wherein the imaging elements emit photons.
 17. The method of claim 14 wherein the imaging elements emit molecules.
 18. The method of claim 14 wherein there are more than 10,000 imaging elements upon a first substrate.
 19. The method of claim 18 wherein the first substrate is approximately round with a radius approximately one inch in dimension. 